How To Remove/Replace A Distributor Without Losing Timing

Fri Apr 13, 2007 10:17 am

1) Position the engine at TDC (any cylinder). Do this by slowly turning the engine until the notch in the front pulley is in line with the timing pointer. If there are 2 notches, use the second one.3) Unhook all wires from the distributor, noting where each was. If the cap isn't being changed, it can be removed from the distributor and left with all wires in place, just remove the wire from the coil.2) Remove distributor cap and note which way the rotor is pointing. Make your notes on a piece of paper, not on the distributor. Pencil lines in particular will make carbon tracks that will cause trouble.3) Remove the entire distributor assembly (all of this in one piece).4) Do whatever needs to be done to the distributor, new points, condenser, lubricate, set pont gap. Do not remove the distributor from the drive housing.5) Rotate the distributor drive until the rotor points to the same position it did at step 3, and reinstall it.6) Hook all the wires back up as they were at step 2.7) Check the timing (which probably will be OK as it is).